


Never With You

by KnightandBeauty



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Other Characters Only Mentioned Briefly, Pre-Relationship, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23062516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightandBeauty/pseuds/KnightandBeauty
Summary: Brienne and Jaime have a misunderstanding. They both assume the worst in their own way. Angst and eventual fluff ensue.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 17
Kudos: 128





	Never With You

**Author's Note:**

> This is self-indulgent as hell, so you have been warned. I'm relatively pleased with it though. Hasn't been beta'd or anything, so keep that in mind as well. Hope you enjoy!

The words reverberated through her head for hours after Jaime said them.

  
“I'm done.”

He had left without saying anything more. Brienne had kept a straight face, hiding the hurt as he closed the door of her flat behind him. It would have been better if he had slammed it, the quiet way the door clicked shut gave her the sense of cold apathetic finality.

They had bickered before. Hells, they did that sometimes more than actual talking, but this had felt different. They usually texted every day, but by the end of that night he hadn't reached out at all. In time, she assumed that he had meant what he said and didn't bother checking her phone again. It's not like Jaime was her only friend, she had Pod, Sansa, and Margaery. But they just... weren't Jaime. She curled up on the couch with a cup of tea, hoping some sleep would help her forget the dull pain in her chest when she thought of him. The eventually forgotten tea was long cold before she got to sleep.

The fire alarm woke her up early the next morning. At first, she was not worried, someone might have only burned something they were cooking next door, but the smell of smoke had already made it inside the flat even though her windows were closed. She grabbed her purse, phone (though she had let the battery die overnight), keys, and the closest jacket. For a moment, she went to leave her flat, but remembering one more thing she doubled back, finding and taking the picture album that contained the last photos she had of her father. With that, taking a final look around, unsure if she'd ever see the space again, she fled. 

Once outside, she could see the extent of the damage. The building was in serious trouble. A fire had started on 4th floor, the second closet to top, and the flames already reached far past the roof. It was summer, so most of the windows in each unit were wide open, leaving plenty of air to fan the fire. The fire department had already arrived and was trying their best to put a stop to it, but Brienne knew how it looked. She would most likely be losing her current home. 

A fire fighter approached her to ask if she was okay, mentioning something about smoke inhalation. She reassured them that she was perfectly fine, and they relented, jogging back towards the burning building.

She wasn't sure where she'd go now. If these were normal circumstances, she'd call Jaime. But the second she considered doing that, all she could hear was "I'm done," and thought better of it.

There was an assembled crowd of people she knew were her fellow neighbors, but she didn't want to join them. They had never actually interacted with her, the most she ever got from them was the occasional weird look. She knew she was ugly and mannish, but if she could get used to that, they should be able to as well. Luckily none of them seemed hurt from the fire, so she wasn’t needed to help with anything. All the same, none of them spared her a glance where she stood leaned against her truck, and that suited her fine.

She watched as the building billowed more and more dark grey smoke, adding a haze to the already lightening morning sky. She must have lost track of time, because when she looked back over at the assembled, the group was much smaller. Some of them must have been picked up by friends or loved ones, immediately taken in by those who cared. _That must be nice,_ she thought. But apparently, she'd royally screwed that up for herself.

Just after looking back up to the building, she heard the screeching of tires coming into the parking lot. The noise startled her out of her casual position. She knew the car at once, it was Jaime’s. Through his fancy car's windshield, she could see a look of panic and fear on his face. It surprised her. If he was supposedly so "done" with her, why would he...

She watched as his eyes darted from the flames, to the thinning crowd who were all staring at him, and finally they found her. Not bothering to properly park his car, he turned it off and leapt out, forgetting to close the door behind him. He ran towards her, looking thoroughly shaken and fuming. He reached her before she could think of something to say, and apparently, she didn't need to greet him. Before anything could have escaped her lips, Jaime had cupped her face in his hands and looked at her intently. He appeared to be scanning her for injuries. He was out of breath from either the running or his panic, and each word came out with a huff of air.

“Are. You. Alright?”

Bewildered by the intimacy of his touch, all she could manage was a shaky nod. He removed his hands from her face only to grip her shoulders. Her neighbors were certainly paying attention to her now, and of course they were. They’d just discovered she had a ridiculously wealthy and attractive male friend (though she didn’t know if ‘friend’ was what he was anymore, considering yesterday’s fight) and they certainly seemed intrigued. However, Jaime didn’t pay them any mind, he was completely focused on her.

"Gods, Addam was driving by on his way to work and he saw the- the fire, and he called me and..." he stopped to catch his breath, still sounding as though he'd just run a marathon. His voice changed tones in an instant, anger taking over. “Why didn't you call me and tell me you were okay? When I found out what was happening and you hadn't called, I thought... and I tried to get a hold of you, but it went right to voice mail!”

Brienne didn't understand.

“You'd have wanted me to call you?” Brienne asked.

A moment of silence passed between them. Jaime's brow was now furrowed to the point where she was afraid that it might stick that way permanently. 

"Of course, I would have! How long have you been sitting here by yourself?" Suddenly his grip on her felt tighter than ever before, and Brienne could feel her cheeks growing hot, betraying her. She cleared her throat and hoped that her voice would emerge as composedly as possible. It would have worked if not for the crack halfway through.

"But you said... you said you were done."

Now Jaime was the one who looked baffled, and then he seemed to understand. 

“Brienne,” Jaime sighed and shook his head, a wave of sadness coming over his face. For a moment of horror, she thought he would confirm what she feared, and she winced, bracing for impact. But the crash never came. Instead, Jaime went on his tip toes and firmly kissed her on the forehead. When he spoke again, he did so staring directly into her eyes, willing her to believe, “Not with **you** , _never_ with you. I meant the _conversation_. How could you think that I'd just... cast you aside after one argument? That I wouldn't care if something happened to you? That I wouldn't want to _help_ you?"

She didn't answer. The relief was too overwhelming. She looked at the ground, tears quickly gathering in her eyes. He took a hand off her shoulder and gently lifted her chin up, so that she looked at him again.

“I’m sorry, I should never have left like that. I just needed some time to cool off, I wasn’t trying to hurt you. After I’d calmed down, I thought you might still be angry with me, so I was giving you space.”

That Brienne could understand. Before he had said “I’m done,” and left, she had felt rather heated as well. Suddenly she was feeling a bit foolish for her assumption, but Jaime didn’t seem to think her foolish at all. He was looking at her in a way she had never seen. She wasn’t sure what it was, but just looking at him made her feel warm.

“I was losing my mind on the way over here. I even yelled at Addam for not stopping to go find you, but by that point I had already run to my car and was on my way,” He said, wiping at the tears that were now falling down her red cheeks. He breathed another sigh, his hands lingering on her face as a source of reassurance, “But you’re alright, thank the Gods.”

Before she knew what was happening, his arms were wrapped tightly around her. Just last night she had thought that he was lost to her, possibly forever. But now he was holding her as though she were unspeakably precious. Just the feel of him and the smell of his familiar cologne was enough to renew her tears. Jaime had nestled his face into the space between her neck and shoulder, so his next words were mumbled slightly. But she caught every single one.

“Please never scare me like that again. You’ll be staying with me for as long as you need, you know how big my place is, I have plenty of room. I won’t be accepting any arguments,” he moved away just enough to look in her eyes once more, “Got it?”

“Got it,” She said sniffling slightly, managing a small smile.

“Good,” and he smiled back, fully releasing her but only to help her grab her things, and as soon as he was done, he used his free hand to take hers and squeeze it, “Now let’s get out of here. We can go back to my place and watch movies. When you need to come back to sort... all this out, we’ll come together.”

Another rush of relief swept through her as they walked to Jaime’s car, fingers interlocked. Her neighbors looked on, mouths agape. It soured her mood a bit, until she saw that Jaime was looking at her in that warm way again.

“What?”

“Let them look, clearly the fools don’t realize that I’m the lucky one.”

“Oh, shut up,” She said nudging him with her shoulder, but there was no way she could hide the blush returning to her cheeks, or the wide smile spreading across her face.


End file.
